Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Roger Herbert Bower, (13 February 1903 – 9 January 1990) was a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and later became General officer commanding (GOC)

Malaya Command The Malaya Command was a formation of the British Army formed in the 1920s for the coordination of the defences of British Malaya, which comprised the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States and the Unfederated Malay States. It consiste ...

from 1956 to 1957.

Military career

Roger Bower was born in

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the Test, and is situated alongside the major A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, west of the town of Basi ...

, England, on 13 February 1903, the son of Herbert Morris Bower and Eileen Francis Fitzgerald. He was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

and later attended the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

, from where he was commissioned into the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on 1 February 1923. Among his fellow graduates were Robert Poole, Geoffrey Bourne, Ernest Down,

Archer Clive Brigadier Archer Francis Lawrence Clive, DSO and bar, MC KStJ (24 June 1903, in London – March 1995, in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire) was a British Army officer who served during World War II. Family Clive was the son of Lieutenant-General Sir ...

, Francis Matthews, John Carew Pole,

Hugh Stockwell General Sir Hugh Charles Stockwell, (16 June 1903 – 27 November 1986) was a senior British Army officer most remembered for commanding the Anglo-French ground forces during the Suez Crisis and his service as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander ...

and

Ronald Littledale Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Bolton Littledale DSO (June 1902 – 1 September 1944) was a British Army officer who became a prisoner of war and successfully escaped from Colditz Castle during the Second World War but was killed in action on 1 Sept ...

. Bower served with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

from 1923 to 1930.Sir Roger Herbert Bower
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives Promoted on 1 February 1925 to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

, after serving as his battalion's adjutant he then returned to England, where he attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1935 to late 1936, and, like at Sandhurst, several of his fellow students were destined for general officer rank during the

or in the years after. They included

Eric Bols Major General Eric Louis Bols CB DSO & Bar (8 June 1904 – 14 June 1985) was a senior British Army officer, who, during World War II, was most notable for serving as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 6th Airborne Division during the ...

, John Whitfield, Robert Arkwright,

Lewis Lyne Major-General Lewis Owen Lyne CB DSO (21 August 1899 – 4 November 1970) was a British Army officer who served before and during the Second World War. He saw distinguished active service in command of the 169th Brigade in action in North Afri ...

, Geoffrey Bourne and Robert Poole, both fellow Sandhurst graduates, Freddie de Guingand, Leonard Holmes, Stephen Shoosmith,

Charles Dalton Charles Dalton (June 9, 1850 – December 9, 1933) was a Canadian businessman, politician and philanthropist on Prince Edward Island. Biography Charles Dalton was born at Tignish, Prince Edward Island, the son of Patrick Dalton and Margaret Mc ...

Charles Keightley General Sir Charles Frederic Keightley, (24 June 1901 – 17 June 1974) was a senior British Army officer who served during and following the Second World War. After serving with distinction during the Second World War – becoming, in 1944, th ...

, Charles Haydon,

Walter Lentaigne Lieutenant General Walter David Alexander Lentaigne, (15 July 1899 – 24 June 1955), also known as Joe Lentaigne, was a senior officer in the British Indian Army. Early life Lentaigne was born the elder son of Justice Benjamin Plunkett Lentaig ...

George Walsh George Frederick Walsh (March 16, 1889 – June 13, 1981) was an American actor. An all-around athlete, who became an actor and later returned to sport, he enjoyed 40 years of fame and was a performer with dual appeal, with women loving hi ...

Horatius Murray General Sir Horatius Murray, (18 April 1903 – 1989) was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction during the Second World War and later in the Korean War. Early life and military career Educated at Peter Symonds School and th ...

, Charles Dunphie,

Terence Airey Lieutenant General Sir Terence Sydney Airey (9 July 1900 – 26 March 1983) was an officer in the British Army. Family and education Airey was the son of Sydney Airey. He was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and the Royal Military College, S ...

and

Gerald Lloyd-Verney Major-General Gerald Harry George Lloyd-Verney DSO & Bar MVO (10 July 1900 – 3 April 1957) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 7th Armoured Division ("The Desert Rats") during World War II. He changed his name by Deed poll f ...

. After graduating from Camberley, Bower, who on 1 February 1935 was promoted to captain, was appointed as a

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section dire ...

in Hong Kong from 1937 to 1938. He then returned again to England in November 1938 where he served as a General staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

, in which role he was serving upon the outbreak of the war in September 1939. On 1 January 1939 Bower was promoted to the

brevet rank In many of the world's military establishments, a brevet ( or ) was a warrant giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct but may not confer the authority, precedence, or pay of real rank. ...

of major. Promoted on 1 February 1940 to major, Bower saw the early period of the Second World War in the War Office. However, on 23 April 1941 he was promoted to the

acting rank An acting rank is a designation that allows a soldier to assume a military rank—usually higher and usually temporary. They may assume that rank either with or without the pay and allowances appropriate to that grade, depending on the nature of t ...

of lieutenant colonel and made Commanding officer of the 1st Battalion,

Border Regiment The Border Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. After service i ...

. Later in the year the battalion was transferred to the airborne forces and converted into a

glider infantry Glider infantry (also referred to as airlanding infantry esp. in British usage) was a type of airborne infantry in which soldiers and their equipment were inserted into enemy-controlled territory via military glider. Initially developed in the l ...

unit. He also served at Headquarters 1 Airborne Corps in North West Europe and participated in Operation Market Garden, being personally involved in the attack by 1 Airborne Corps on

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

in 1944. He was commander of the

1st Airlanding Brigade The 1st Airlanding Brigade was an airborne infantry brigade of the British Army during the Second World War and the only glider infantry formation assigned to the 1st Airborne Division, serving alongside the 1st Parachute Brigade and 4th Par ...

in Norway in 1945. After the war Bower was deployed with the 6th Airlanding Brigade to Palestine from 1945 to 1946 and then went to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

District from 1948 to 1949. He was appointed Director Land/Air Warfare at the

in 1950 and Director of Military Training and Director of Land/Air Warfare in 1951. He was General Officer Commanding East Anglian District from 1952 to 1955 and then Chief of Staff Allied Forces, Northern Europe from 1955 to 1956, when he was made General Officer Commanding and Director of Operations for Malaya. His final post was as Commander-in-Chief

Middle East Land Forces Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

in Cyprus in 1958; he retired in 1960. Following retirement, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1960 to 1963.Earl Alexander New Constable Of Tower 1960
/ref>

References

External links

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bower, Roger 1903 births 1990 deaths British Army lieutenant generals British Army brigadiers of World War II British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Lieutenants of the Tower of London People educated at Repton School People from Andover, Hampshire Military personnel from Hampshire